


The Sound of Stars

by elenoremalfoy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Draco Malfoy, Death Eater Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy - Freeform, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Slytherin Reader, death eater reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:09:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenoremalfoy/pseuds/elenoremalfoy
Summary: draco x reader drink to drown their thoughts. atop the astronomy tower they find themselves lost amongst the night’s fog & whispering stars.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	The Sound of Stars

neither of them ever had any troubles when it came to holding her own against liquors. 

and yet, here they both were. sleepily passing an emptying bitter spirit, the name of which they’d both forgotten. this was good. this meant it was doing its job— helping them to forget. 

the reason she’d been crying had long escaped her hazy memory. the only hint, a slow burning serpent that’d recently been carved into her forearm. it writhed beneath the sleeve of her shirt.

after only a short while of joining her up here, draco, too, had forgotten all the worries that’d been consuming him—eating away at his insides—for weeks.

so together they sat, legs dangling over the side of the astronomy tower, sharing a seat under the arch of an open window.

looking over the edge, past their bare feet, the rose garden was dark and its twisting pathways were blackening under the dim light of the stars. the clouds had settled low enough that she and draco were idly counting the roses through the dusk coloured haze.

as time passed, the risks of reaching out and grasping for the wisps of clouds floating by no longer seemed enough to keep her from them. the moon shone against her skin as her hand emerged from the shadows they’d been hiding in.

draco watched as she leaned imperceptibly forward, the features of her face slowly illuminating. then he saw it.

he’d never thought of the mark as anything but a curse, but looking at it curled around her arm, it appeared almost elegant to him.

“careful,” he told her, hand shooting out to prevent her from wandering too far. the clouds scattered, and when her eyes caught his, he was reminded of when he’d first been chosen.

he could see it, written there in her gaze, that she hadn’t asked for it. of course she hadn’t— neither had he. draco offered her the bottle.

their fingers brushed as she took it from him, and he noted the way she had bristled. his touch was cold, he knew. it always was.

she was shivering and he found himself wishing he had not discarded his robes before he left the confines of his room.

soon she was back to sulking in the shadows. those eyes again downcast, peering into the bottle as if trying to cipher an invisible message left at the bottom.

draco took out his wand, and uttered a spell or two beneath his breath. he wondered if she heard him and decided to ignore him, or if she’d truly become so lost in her thoughts to notice his silly little incantations.

nevertheless, he continued to whisper a few phrases, moving his wand to and from as he did.

she only looked up when a star, the size of the small jewel around her neck, flew into the bottle she was holding. it startled her so badly that she nearly dropped the thing.

bewildered, she turned to draco, who was still lazily conducting with his wand. his eyes met hers, and she noted the sort of mirth she suddenly realized had been missing from him and his usual behavior for quite sometime now.

“what are you doing?” it was the first time she’d spoken since draco found her sitting here alone.

the blue glass of the bottle was glinting between them. flickers of swirling, kaleidoscopic light bounced off of the walls in the astronomy tower and caught on every feature of their own grim faces.

his lips parted with a blue smirk when he said, “i’m trying not to think so much.”

“think so much about what?” her question was thwarted with yet another magic act. it was mesmerizing— tuffs of the clouds she had been reaching for were now swimming around her.

she hummed with the ghost of laughter as a few of them stopped to gently nudge her cheek and stroke her skin. they intertwined themselves into strands of her hair and were dancing dreamily about her robes.

stars, small as pearls and slowly blinking, began to weave themselves into the wisps of fog and mist floating around her. she gasped as she watched them wink at her, their lights twinkling like bells as they moved.

“draco,” she breathed, but she had already forgotten what it was she wished to say, because a single star had set itself in the empty palm of her hand.

“this one is trying to tell you something,” he told her.

his wand had stopped moving, and he was now leaning back against the pillar of stone behind him. those tired grey eyes were closing, the promise of sleep not being very far away.

“how do you know?” she cradled the little star, trying and failing to tear her eyes away from him while he drifted off.

the veins webbed over his lids and the one or two snaking up from around his neck near the opening of his unbuttoned shirt were the colour of starlit lazuli in the glassy reflection of the bottle.

“you can’t hear it?” the trace of a smile played in his voice. “the star is whispering. bring it closer to you.”

she didn’t try to hide her skepticism, but still, she brought the star up to her ear.

watching draco fall asleep, she waited for the star to speak. his fingers unfurled from his wand and his head drooped too far to the right for him to have been awake.

bored of waiting, she had nearly been ready to assume that the boy had gone mad and drunkenly believed the star to be telling secrets, suddenly— the humming ceased and a soft purr of a whisper began to unwind.

“beautiful,” it said. “you look beautiful tonight.”  
“well, thank you,” she smiled, despite her heavy shoulders.

“you even look pretty when you cry, too. in fact, i always seem to find it rather hard not to stare.”  
“draco?” she sat straight up and made to drop the star. she wasn’t sure what to say to that, to him.

“shhh,” the star— no, he hissed. “quiet, don’t wake me yet. just let me say one thing more?”  
she blushed and before she could reason with herself, she nodded. “very well. what is it then?”

“you’re not in this alone.”  
a few pieces of cloud gently raised her arm and revealed her dark mark. she stilled in response to his assurance.

“whatever it is he’s making you do, i want you to know that you don’t have to do it alone.”  
“stop.” she couldn’t take her eyes off of draco’s unmoving form. he was still deep in sleep while she was now tingling with wild nervousness.

“what ever reason you have for joining, i won’t hold it against you…” like everyone had done to him.

the promise he’d made was every where, and perhaps it was meant to be friendly, but the sting of knowing exactly how doomed the two of them were made her entire body weak.

dropping the hand that was holding the star, she moved away from the window, but the threat of falling still seemed imminent. she felt empty, as though the dark mark had already hollowed her out.

they stayed that way for some time.

she with her back against the wall, and he with one leg over the edge.

finally, the star winked out and draco began to stir with awareness. the clouds and stars that remained opened to encircle the both of them when draco kneeled in front of her.

he brushed away the hair that hung over her face like a curtain. the one thing hiding her from him now were the elbows she’d propped against her knees.

he brushed those away, too. this time his touch was feather soft, reminding her of the wisps and stars from moments ago.

the clouds weaved themselves through her tousled hair, the stars cast abnormal highlights across her features, and the blue glass still illuminated the shadows of her eyes.

looking at her made draco forget not only what he was about to say, but also everything before and after the moment she’d looked back at him.

there was only tenderness in her expression, and he wondered about nothing else than if she was as soft as she seemed.

he tried to break the spell, but his hands were already on either side of her face, his thumbs just below the jut of her chin. her pulse met the tips of his fingers wherever they trailed.

and then he felt the promise of her in the air around them, stealing what control he had left.

“tell me,” he said suddenly, breaking off to clear his throat. “tell me to think of something else.”

her lips parted with a question, and it only weakened his will.

“tell me to think of something other than you, because i— can’t.”  
she swallowed before bringing a hand to touch the clenched jaw he was wearing, wondering just how hard he must’ve been trying to restrain himself.

“you could think about the stars if you’d like,” she said, “or about being somewhere else, somewhere far away from here.”

“is that what you’re thinking about?” he found himself closer to her, so close now that he could smell the wine they’d shared.

she leaned up off of the wall, and let her other hand grip the crinkled collar of his shirt. their breathing was shallow now, and the stars seemed to mock their quiet sounds of desperation.

though, all was silent when she shook her head and answered him with a simple, “no.”


End file.
